Chapter 5
Translator: True Detective
[Let's Educate the Saintess - 04]
It's not something to hide at this point, but I am a reincarnated person.
I died of overwork after working for several days straight without sleeping properly.
What people commonly call reincarnation into another world is a good thing, but unfortunately, I wasn't the type of person to seek out that genre.
My friend might have known, but if I had to say, I preferred traditional fantasy works, and I only read the most popular comics.
Perhaps this world is also some game or comic, but since I don't know anything, I couldn't know what kind of world this was either.
However, there was a little bit of plausible evidence.
For example, while it had architectural styles that seemed like they belonged in a medieval fantasy, the bathrooms were actually modern, and there was a great deal of modern food.
There were even cars powered by mana, so it was no exaggeration to say it was practically the modern era with a medieval skin over it.
I remembered my friend often complaining that it was a shame such anachronistic things frequently appeared in those kinds of works. Because of that, I harbored the thought that this world might also be a world inside some kind of game or comic.
Even so, since I didn't know anything, there was nothing I could do.
So I just decided to live my life.
If I had known something, I might have tried to change things or make an effort using that knowledge, but since I knew nothing, worrying about it was useless.
Therefore, I was just living it as if it were reality.
"Haa."
I let out an unconscious sigh while looking in the mirror.
'Her talent is no joke. It's going to be quite a headache just to make that young girl even "pretend" to be normal.'
Life is not a game.
There is no such thing as a retry button, and if you fail once, you must pay the corresponding price.
If you are lucky, you might not have to pay, but most of the time, you do.
If I couldn't socialize the Saintess, there was no telling what she would do once she came of age.
Although she didn't harbor any pleasure for violence, she already had a habit of trying to resolve things with it if it made the job easier, so stopping that was the best course of action.
'There's nothing I can teach her in terms of technique. At her age, that level is not just sufficient, it's excessive.'
To call it an innate, natural-born talent would be far too overwhelming.
Honestly speaking, it could be said to be a realm that an ordinary person couldn't reach even with a lifetime of effort.
Because she lacked a bit of experience, she couldn't cope if an unexpected accident occurred, but if she somehow fixed just that, she would truly be a monster.
If she continued to grow and that limit increased even further.
She was truly a child with a terrifying future.
'My stomach hurts.'
Honestly, pretending that everything was fine wasn't easy.
'I have to teach her the moral aspects, not the technical ones.'
No matter how much I tried to make the Saintess understand, we would just fall into an infinite loop of "Why?" and proper education wouldn't take place. What was needed was repetitive and moral education.
Anyway, it was best to make her memorize it at the level of "Just memorize it."
It was better to make her understand that doing so would be a "benefit" to her, if possible.
To be frank, explaining cases where living virtuously is beneficial was difficult.
Even if I persuaded her right now, as one lives life, there are often times when living virtuously leads to a loss.
Because of that, I consider good people to be noble, but no matter how much I tried to tell that to the Saintess, who didn't even have a standard for morals, it wouldn't work.
Even if I saw immediate results now, I couldn't completely deny the possibility that while living in society and going through the world, she would be exposed to malice and everything I had taught her would revert to a blank slate.
My head was already starting to hurt, but if I did nothing, the possibility of the Saintess becoming an evil person was so high that it could be considered a certainty.
In that case, I had to at least give it a try.
"Let's go."
I opened the door and walked down the hallway.
The hallway, which flowed with a noble and holy atmosphere befitting the Grand Cathedral, was not overly extravagant.
The softly descending sunlight was warm, and the urge to return to my room right now and lie down on my bed to rest surged within me, but I had to do the job I was ordered to do, and personally, I was also afraid of the backlash that would come later if I left it alone.
Because if I pretended not to know and the Saintess ended up becoming an evil person who killed countless people later on, that would be a headache in its own right.
What else could I do? I already knew, and since I had been ordered to, I had to do it.
"……."
I stood in front of the door, cleared my throat with a brief cough, and then knocked.
"Saintess, it is Adrian. May I come in?"
Because she might be changing her clothes or dealing with various personal matters.
"Come in."
The answer came surprisingly fast.
Fortunately, it didn't seem like she had forgotten after just one day.
It seemed yesterday's events had left a stronger impression on the Saintess than I thought.
Whether that would apply positively or negatively was unknown, but at the very least, I could consider the first mission of remaining in the Saintess's memory cleared.
Well, the important part started now, and the real headache started now, too.
"Good morning, Saintess."
"How did you do that yesterday?"
A question right off the bat.
It seemed she was surprised because the technique I used yesterday was a bit unusual.
My eye was a bit special, but it was just rare; it wasn't a trait unique only to me.
If she didn't even know something like that, it practically meant she had almost no knowledge separate from her techniques, so it seemed I would have to prepare lessons on basic common sense as well.
But that was that, and this was this.
I kept my smile and spoke.
"Good morning, Saintess."
As I repeated the same words again, the Saintess tilted her head.
"Huh? I heard you. I mean, how did you do that yesterday……."
"Good morning, Saintess."
"……."
Only then did the Saintess seem to notice that something was strange.
"Saintess, when you meet people, you must greet them."
"Why?"
"A greeting is something people do as a matter of etiquette when they meet or part ways. From now on, you are going to learn etiquette, Saintess."
"……."
The Saintess tilted her head again.
I adjusted my eye level to match the Saintess, who was sitting in a chair, and spoke.
"It is okay if you do not understand. You probably cannot figure out why you have to do it, right? Saintess, from now on, you are going to become a good person. You can curse internally all you want. You just have to be polite and a good person on the outside."
For just a brief moment, a light of interest flickered in the Saintess's eyes.
Her questioning gaze had taken on a completely different color than before, and it seemed she had developed a different kind of interest in what I was saying.
"Then, is there a meaning to it?"
"There is. People care about the 'surface' a lot more than you'd think. How you think on the inside isn't really that important unless someone can read your mind. What matters is how you act."
Honestly, no matter how much someone cursed internally, if they did their job, saved people, and did good deeds, I would call that person a good person.
"……."
"Even if you don't feel sad no matter how many people die, if you feign sadness out of courtesy and say words of mourning for them, you have fulfilled your role."
Trying to make her understand something she innately lacks the capacity for would only give me a headache.
Someone else might be the kind of educator capable of achieving that, but unfortunately, I wasn't that kind of educator, so what was needed was a social mask.
Making the Saintess believe that wearing that social mask in any situation was beneficial and good was the job I had to do.
It would be great if I could completely turn the Saintess into someone with a kind and noble inner nature befitting her title, but that was impossible for me.
If I jumped in from the start saying, 'I can change her,' I felt like I would only suffer needlessly and it would lead to a catastrophe.
"It will be difficult. This standard is different for everyone, and in extreme situations, you'll be criticized no matter what you choose."
"Yeah."
"But you will be able to do it. What else can we do? We already had our match, and since I won, you have to listen to my education until you come of age. At the very least, until you enter the Academy, I will teach you to the best of my abilities."
"Teach me what?"
"How to pretend to live like a proper human being."
"……."
The Saintess, who had been blanking out, briefly brought her hands together and then moved them toward her chest.
What was that motion?
I couldn't understand what kind of emotion was in those blank eyes, and perhaps the Saintess herself didn't understand it either.
"You, what's your name?"
Did she forget?
Well, that's fine.
Asking again like this must mean she now had the intention to remember.
If she had taken an interest not just in my power but in me as a person, that was a glad thing.
"Adrian Valtus, a Holy Knight."
"Too long. I'll call you Ed from now on."
"Well, please do as you wish regarding that part. Have you made up your mind to listen to the lessons?"
"I'll listen quietly until I get bored."
Then what happens when she gets bored?
That question rose to my throat, but still, I was relieved that she was keeping her promise and listening quietly for now.
It might be because she was still young.
If time had passed in this state and she had grown up just like that, it might have been irreversible.
"And."
"Yes."
"Tell me how you did that during the sparring."
She seemed incredibly curious.
I smiled and spoke.
"If you listen well to the lessons for a week, I will tell you."
"……."
For the first time, a different expression flickered across the silent Saintess's face, replacing her usual blankness.
It seemed the Saintess had learned how to make a displeased expression.
A good start.